Plate joinery permits accurate and secure attachment of workpieces connected at a joint. Typical plate joinery requires a device for making a plunge cut or kerf in a joint surface designed for receipt of a plate (also called a biscuit, wafer, or spline) of wood or other material. Oppositely disposed grooves are cut into each piece of wood to be joined. Then glue and a plate is placed within each groove, and the plates are allowed to expand from application of the glue. The expansion of the glued biscuit in the opposing cuts provides an accurate, strong woodworking joint. Accordingly, plate joinery provides a strong, simple, and relatively long lasting joint for use in the field of woodworking.
Known plate joiner devices are generally comprised of a housing, a motor unit and a rotating blade section. A portion of the housing contacts a joint surface and the rotating blade section is then operably moved toward and engages a portion of the joint surface at the location of the desired cut. The rotating blade then cuts into the joint surface and is retracted. A particular advantage of plate joinery over other joint forming methods is the ease of use, aesthetic result, and overall efficiency.
However, the handle on all known prior art plate joiner devices has an inferior horizontal orientation which provides limited ergonomic compatibility with a user's hand for placement of the prior art plate joiners into position on a joint. Further, the horizontal handles on prior art plate joiner devices are located close to the base of the joiner, thus allowing the user's fingers to frequently become pinched due to the sliding action of the base mechanism as the plunge cut is formed. Accordingly, what has been needed is a plate joiner handle eliminating these problems.